Urban Farming in Cuba: Adapting to Survive

So, America is in a state of financial breakdown that is trickling down to the everyday consumer.  A lot of people are nervously asking themselves, what would we do if the worst happened? What if the credit system broke down entirely, and businesses – including grocery stores – couldn’t afford to operate?  It’s a fair question to ask, since all of this turmoil is making us realize how much we depend upon the current system to get by, even for the most basic of necessities.

We could actually turn to Cuba to learn a valuable lesson about getting by in such a scenario.  From Green Daily:

Cuba has dealt with worse. When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1989, “[Cuba] lost 85 percent of its foreign trade, including food, agricultural imports and petroleum. Already crippled by the U.S. embargo, the country was financially devastated with its food supply hit hardest.” This, according to an article in the San Francisco Chronicle from the year 2000.

Fast forward to 2008. An Associated Press article printed in June talked about how, faced with food crisis, Cubans started farming in empty lots in urban centers (with support from the Cuban government). This agricultural shift prompted a cultural shift. Instead of eating rice and beans supplied by Eastern Europe, Cubans started eating tons of fresh greens. The farms also currently provide about 350,000 jobs nationwide.

The smart thing to do, really, would be to start doing this in America right now, regardless of how big of an impact this financial crisis ultimately has upon the everyday life of most Americans.  Reflecting on and preparing for worst-case scenarios shouldn’t solely be the territory of fringe conspiracy theorists – there are plenty of things that could happen that would necessitate being inventive about things like where our food comes from.

As we’ve mentioned here on EarthFirst many times before, we’re too far removed from the sources of our food, and it makes us very vulnerable.  We’d love to see urban farming take off all over America.  It’s a matter of taking not just your health but your potential survival in a crisis into your own hands.

Link [Green Daily]
Photo credit: City Dirt

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